On Simulation of 2x2 MIMO-OFDM in
IEEE802.16a : Upper Bound Performance Results
Micheal Drieberg, Yew Kuan Min and Varun Jeoti
Wireless Communication Group, University Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia
Abstract A simulation of multi-input multi-output (MIMO)
orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system
based on IEEE802.16a, wireless Metropolitan Area Network
(MAN), has been carried out in Simulink/Matlab and
performance measures have been obtained. We have assumed
perfect channel state information (CSI), so these results
represent the performance upper bounds. MIMO that refers to
the use of multiple antennas at the transmitter and multiple
antennas at the receiver is especially powerful in providing
diversity to overcome the performance degradation due to
channel fades. The model uses the OFDM physical (PHY) layer
using QPSK constellations with Reed-Solomon and
Convolutional Coding (RS-CC) scheme for forward error
correction (FEC) at rate . The model has been tested using
all 6 Stanford University Interim (SUI) channels. The Space
Time (ST) code used is Alamoutis ST Block Code which gives
very good performance and is quite simple to implement.
Simulation results show that the extra SNR required for BER
at 10-6 for all 6 SUI channels are only 5-7dB more than AWGN
when using 2x2 MIMO.
Keywords MIMO-OFDM , IEEE802.16a , ST Codes, fixed
Broadband Wireless Access.
I.INTRODUCTION
IEEE802.16 is the standards body for fixed broadband wireless
access system. Fixed broadband wireless access systems require
high bit-rate, reliable and power efficient transmission systems. In
order to reduce the ISI and to avoid using very complex equalizer
at high bit rates, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
(OFDM) is used. In OFDM, a single wideband channel is divided
into many overlapping but orthogonal narrowband channels [1].
This effectively lengthens the symbol time and reduces the ISI.
Equalization is simple to implement in OFDM. Due to the nature
of the wireless channel, which fades in time and space, reliable
communication requires a large fade margin so that the deep fades
do not disrupt important communication. This limits the range that
can be achieved given a specified power and may even cause the
cellular deployment to become economically unfeasible. MIMO
has been shown to be effective in providing diversity that lowers
the fade margins needed to achieve a similar performance [2].
With diversity of MIMO, a more reliable and power efficient
system is possible.
In this paper, the simulation model has been developed
according to the standards specifications of IEEE 802.16a and
uses the OFDM PHY layer. The modulation and coding rate is
QPSK RS-CC rate . The channel is modeled using the 6 SUI
channels that have been adopted by IEEE802.16a to evaluate air
interface performance. The rest of the paper is organized as
follows: Section II introduces the OFDM system that is followed
by SUI channels in section III. Section IV deals with the
Alamoutis STBC used in the MIMO. Section V presents
simulation results of the MIMO-OFDM system.
II. OFDM SYSTEM
In this section, we give a summary of the various blocks of the
baseband OFDM system. Details of the OFDM system can be
found in the IEEE802.16a standard documents [3]. The block
diagram of the OFDM system is shown in Fig.1.
Binary data is first grouped together to make up the
specified number of bits per frame. The processing is done frame
by frame. Each bit frame is then fed into a randomizer whose
function is to prevent long runs of bit 0 or bit 1 . The
randomizer is implemented by XORing the input with the output
of a Pseudo Random Binary Generator (PRBS). The PRBS
generator polynomial is 1 + X14 + X15 .
Next the bit frame goes through a RS Encoder as a
Forward Error Correction (FEC) method to correct bit errors.
For QPSK RS-CC rate , the RS code used is the shortened and
punctured RS(40,36,2) code derived from a systematic
RS(255,239,8) code. This is followed by another FEC which is
the Punctured Convolutional Encoder. The convolutional code
used is the industry (171,133) rate with constraint length K
=7. To achieve a rate 5/6 for the convolutional encoder, it is
punctured by a puncturing pattern of (10101, 11010 ) . This
gives an overall RS-CC code rate of
The bit frame is then fed into the interleaver which
spreads out the adjacent bits onto non-adjacent carriers and
ensures that adjacent bits get mapped onto less or more
significant bits of the constellation to avoid long runs of lowly
reliable bits. The constellation mapper maps the bit frame to the
constellation specified, which is QPSK in our case. The
constellations are gray mapped and normalized to have equal
average power.
The symbols frame now enters the OFDM transmitter
where each symbol is mapped onto the corresponding carriers
which are then transformed into time domain samples by passing
them through a 256 point IFFT. Only 200 carriers out of the 256
 B IN A R Y D A T A PUNCTURED
C O N S T E L L A T IO N O FDM
R A N D O M IZ E R RS ENCODER C O N V O L U T IO N A L IN T E R L E A V E R
M APPER T R A N S M IT T E R
ENCODER

SUI CHANNEL

AWGN

C O N V O L U T IO N A L C O N S T E L L A T IO N O FDM
D E R A N D O M IZ E R RS DECODER D E IN T E R L E A V E R
DECODER DEM APPER R E C E IV E R

Figure 1: OFDM Baseband System Block Diagram

TABLE 2
carriers are used. The unused carriers are the the DC carrier and Characteristics of the SUI Channels
the side carriers which provide a natural frequency decay. Out of
the 200 used carriers, 8 are pilot carriers that are used for
K-Factor : Low
tracking purposes. The OFDM samples now undergo the SUI
multipath channels with noise added as AWGN. Low Delay Moderate Delay High Delay
Doppler Spread Spread Spread
Equalization is performed at the receiver. The Low SUI-3 SUI-5
remaining blocks of the receiver side are the blocks that High SUI-4 SUI-6
correspond to respective transmitter block described above. K-Factor : High
Low Delay Moderate Delay High Delay
Doppler Spread Spread Spread
III. SUI CHANNELS Low SUI-1,SUI-2
High
SUI channels are a group of 6 channels that have been adopted
by IEEE802.16 to evaluate air interface performance [4]. The 6 Each of the SUI channel is modeled as 3 taps. Each tap
channels model the typical channels for 3 types of terrains. is simulated according to its delay and power. K-factor is the
Terrain type A is hilly terrain with moderate-to-heavy tree ratio of the constant component power to the random component
densities while terrain type C is flat terrain with light tree power of each tap. We have used the omni antenna parameter
densities. Terrain type B is intermediate between terrain type A and 90% K-factor. The taps are normalized by the
and terrain type C. Table 1 shows the terrain type and corresponding factors to achieve average channel power of 1.
corresponding SUI channels that represents them.

TABLE 1 IV. ALAMOUTIS SPACE TIME BLOCK CODE FOR MIMO

Terrain Types And Corresponding SUI Channels SYSTEM
Terrain Type SUI Channels Alamouti presented a simple transmitter diversity scheme for 2
C SUI-1, SUI-2 transmitter that improved signal quality at the receiver through
B SUI-3, SUI-4 frequency flat fading channels by simple processing at the
A SUI-5, SUI-6 transmitter and linear decoding at the receiver [5]. The scheme
proposed has been shown to achieve the same performance as
the classical maximal-ratio receive combining (MRRC) scheme
The characteristics of each of the SUI channels are shown in which is widely deployed as a form of receiver diversity with a
Table 2. Complete set of parameters can be found in [4]. 3dB performance penalty since the total transmitter power is
divided by both the transmitters. The scheme for 2 transmitters system, we have used the extension of the scheme for 2x2. The
and 1 receiver is shown in Fig.2. scheme for 2x2 system is shown in Fig.3.

so so
-s1* -s1* no
h0 = 0 e j0 n1
h0
Channel
h1
Estimator
h1 = 1e j1
h0 = 0 e j0 Tx1 Rx1
h0 h1
no
Tx1 n1 h0 s0
s1 ~
s0
Channel
s1 Estimator
h1 s0 so* h2 = 2 e j 2 n2 ~ Maximum
j1
Combiner s
so* h1 = 1e Maximum
n3 1 Likelihood s1
Detector
h0 h1 Likelihood
Detector s1 h3 = 3e j3
Rx ~ h2 h3
s0
Combiner
~
s1 Tx2 Rx2
h2
Channel
Estimator h3
Tx2

Figure 3: Alamoutis 2Tx and 2Rx STBC Scheme

Figure 2: Alamoutis 2Tx and 1Rx STBC Scheme

At any symbol period, 2 symbols are transmitted The transmission at the transmitters is still the same. At
simultaneouly from both transmitters. During the first symbol Rx1, the received signal during the first symbol period and
period, Tx1 transmits symbol s0 and Tx2 transmits symbol s1. second symbol period is r0 and r1 respectively,. At Rx2, the
At the next symbol period, Tx1 transmits symbol -s1* and Tx2 received signal during the first symbol period and second
transmits symbol s0* . At the receiver, the received signal during symbol period is r2 and r3 respectively.
the first symbol period and second symbol period is r0 and r1
respectively.
r0 = h0 s 0 + h1 s1 + n 0
r0 = h0 s 0 + h1 s1 + n 0 r1 = h0 s1 * + h1 s 0 * + n1
(6)
r1 = h0 s1 * + h1 s 0 * + n1 (1) r2 = h2 s 0 + h3 s1 + n 2
r3 = h2 s1 * + h3 s 0 * + n3
At the combiner, the signals r0 and r1 are combined as follows
~ At the combiner, the signals r0, r1, r2 and r3 are combined as
s0 = h0 * r0 + h1r1 * follows
~
s1 = h1 * r0 h0 r1 * (2)
~
s 0 = h0 * r0 + h1 r1 * + h2 * r2 + h3 r3 *
This gives ~ (7)
s = h * r h r * +h * r h r *
1 1 0 0 1 3 2 2 3

~
s0 = ( 0 2 + 12 ) s 0 + h0 * n0 + h1n1 * This gives
~
s = ( 2 + 2 ) s h n * + h * n (3)
1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0
~
s 0 = ( 0 2 + 1 2 + 2 2 + 3 2 ) s 0 + h0 * n 0 + h1 n1 *
The decision rule is given by + h2 * n 2 + h3 n3 *
(8)
~
s1 = ( 0 2 + 1 2 + 2 2 + 3 2 ) s1 h0 n1 * + h1 * n 0
s j = arg min (( 12 + 2 2 1) si + d 2 (~
2
s j , si )) (4)
Si h2 n3 * + h3 * n 2
or for equal energy constellation
The decision rule is given by
s j = arg min (d 2 (~
s j , si )) (5) 2
Si s j = arg min (( 0 2 + 12 + 2 2 + 3 2 1) si
Si (9)
for j = 0,1. + d (~
2
s j , si ))

Alamouti also showed that the above scheme achieves

or for equal energy constellation
the diversity order of 2 which is the number of transmitter
antennas times the number of receiver antennas. He also showed
that the scheme can be easily extended to M receiver antennas s j = arg min (d 2 (~
s j , si )) (10)
for achieving a diversity order of 2M. For the simulation of 2x2 Si
for j = 0, 1.
 In OFDM systems, the scheme is applied on each
carrier for 2 consecutive symbol periods since each carrier
undergoes flat fading

V. SIMULATION RESULTS OF THE MIMO OFDM

SYSTEM

A simulation of MIMO-OFDM system based on IEEE802.16a

have been developed in Simulink/Matlab. The model uses the
OFDM PHY layer and the particular model is QPSK RS-CC rate
. In this work, we have assumed perfect channel state
information and perfect synchronization. We also specify the
packet size to be 1kB which allow us to assume quasi-static
channel. To get accurate results, the average performance of the Figure 4: BER vs SNR of MIMO OFDM system under SUI-1
system across 10000 independent channel realization is used
channel
which means a run of 8.4x107 source bits. Apart from the
performance of the 2x2 MIMO system, performance of 1x1
SISO system and 2x1 MISO system with AWGN and SUI are
shown for comparison. The performance of the 2x2 MIMO
OFDM system is shown in Figure 4 9 using SUI channel 1-6.

From the perusal of the performance curves, the

diversity gain at BER of 10-3 when using 2x1 MISO compared to
1x1 SISO is around 10dB for all SUI channels. At the same
target BER, the extra diversity gain when using 2x2 MIMO
compared to 2x1 MISO range from 3 to 7dB where more gain is
attained from SUI-1 to SUI-6 channel due to the lower K-factor
for higher numbered SUI channels. We expect the diversity
gains to be even more at higher BER for example at BER of 10-6.
At target BER of 10-6, note that the extra SNR required is only 5
7dB more than AWGN when using 2x2 MIMO for all the SUI
channels.

Figure 5: BER vs SNR of MIMO OFDM system under SUI-2

channel

Figure 6: BER vs SNR of MIMO OFDM system under SUI-3

channel
 V. CONCLUSION

A simulation of MIMO-OFDM system based on IEEE802.16a

has been developed in Simulink/Matlab. We have presented the
simulated upper bound performance results of the system under
all the 6 SUI channels for 1x1 SISO , 2x1 MISO and 2x2 MIMO
systems. It is also shown that 2x2 MIMO can improve the
performance significantly which is degraded due to channel
fades. Simulation results shows that the extra SNR required for
BER at 10-6 for all 6 SUI channels are only 5-7dB more than
AWGN when using 2x2 MIMO. Particularly, using a simple
STC like Alamoutis STBC is effective and easy to implement in
OFDM systems where the code is applied on the same carrier for
2 consecutive symbol periods. The implementation of 2x2
MIMO is a small price to pay for the significant performance
gains attained without any expansion in bandwidth.
Figure 7: BER vs SNR of MIMO OFDM system under SUI-4
channel Although we have assumed perfect channel state
information and perfect synchronization, these performance
curves show the gains due to implementation of MIMO in a
realistic system based on IEEE802.16a standard. Further work in
investigating the effect of estimation and synchronication errors
and schemes which minimizes these errors can use these
performance curves as upper bounds and comparison when an
overall system performance measure under these schemes are
considered.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors would like to thank Dr. Srikanth, AU-KBC,

Chennai, Ron Murias, WiLan, Calgary and Prof. M.U. Siddiqi,
MMU, Cyberjaya for helpful discussions and IRPA grant (04-
99-02-0009-EA001) from the government of Malaysia for their
financial sponsorship.

Figure 8: BER vs SNR of MIMO OFDM system under SUI-5 REFERENCES

channel
[1] Richard V. Nee, Ramjee Prasad, OFDM For Wireless
Multimedia Communications, Artech House, 2000
[2] G.D. Durgin, Space-Time Wireless Channels. Prentice
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[3] IEEE802.16a , IEEE Standard for Local and
Metropolitan Area Networks. Part 16: Air Interface for
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Access Control Modifications and Additional Physical
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[4]V. Erceg et al , Channel Models for Fixed Wireless
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Figure 9: BER vs SNR of MIMO OFDM system under SUI-6

channel